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The Tailgunners
The Tailgunners Founded: March 11, 2009 Arena: Jack Gatecliff Arena (Niagara Falls, ON, Canada) Level 3 Owner: Nquiksilver GM(s): Nquiksilver Team Statistics Overall Record: W-L 191-149 Regular Season Record: W-L 162-126 Playoff Record: W-L 27-18 Medallion Record: W-L 2-5 Team Awards Trophys: League (MHL) (LOLD) The Tailgunners are a hockey club, in The Metropolis Hockey Organization, and are based out of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Home games are played at Jack Gatecliff Arena, also home of the Niagara IceDogs. About The Tailgunners are a level 3 team, managed by Nquiksilver, that came into The Metropolis Hockey Organization on March 11th, 2009. The name was inspired by Nquiksilver's ball hockey team, the Niagara Tailgunners, who drew their name from an Iron Maiden song entitled "Tailgunner" off the No Prayer for the Dying album. March-April 09' - The Tailgunners made the playoffs in their first season, just sliding into the 8th and final playoff spot. After making quick work of the Dominance trophy winner, The chips, they were set to face Friedjeebus' The Black Jesus HC. Two games later, The Tailgunners found their Metrocup dreams in shambles. Their first attempt at the Medallion left them on the sidelines as their Tier 3 request was denied due to a lack of T3 participants. April-May 09' - A month full of extreme highs and extreme lows tested the young Tailgunner team on both mental and physical levels. Rebounding from their first season, they start to make quick work of all teams in their league. But when a tidal wave of devastating injuries plagues them in the latter half of the season, the chemistry and success starts to fade. Finishing as the second seed and losing in the first round of the playoffs, The Tailgunners have begun to look to the potential of next season. The Tailgunners also participated in a few tournaments this month, including the prestigious Medallion. As the 88th seed in tier 2, they played in a heart breaker against the Waterloo Ratpak, losing 4-3 in overtime. Next was their shot at the Denslow Cup and the Canada Cup. In the Canada Cup, a lackluster performance left The Tailgunners 13th of 20 and out of the elimination rounds. Since it was their first time participating in the Denslow Cup, The Tailgunners were placed in a ranking tier evaluate their spot for the next Denslow Cup. The Tailgunners made it to the finals and finished second. May-June 09'- A disappointing showing in all extracurricular play this month. The Tailgunners finished last in their divisions in both the Canada Cup and the Denslow Cup, along with a first round departure in the Medallion after losing their home game 3-1. June-July 09' - Participating in a few newer tournaments this cycle, The Tailgunners performed much better. After clinching top seed in the Boondock Cup, they suffered a close defeat in the semifinals. This month's run at the Denslow cup saw The Tailgunners just fall shy of qualifying for the elimination round, finishing 3rd in Pool C, 1 point out of qualification. This cycles run in the Medallion proved to be quite the surprise for the young Tailgunners team. Although they were knocked out 1st round on the road by The Hunters, they had just made the cut for Tier 1. Expecting a high placement in Tier 2, The Tailgunners were honored to be selected in the top 128 and hope their attempts next cycle will bring a little more success. July-August 09' - The end of the month saw The Tailgunners in the middle of the offseason. Scrambled lines and missing components had left The Tailgunners qualifying for the Medallion's Tier 2. After their first ever Medallion victory, they lost a heart breaker on day 2 5-4. August-Spetember 09' - This months medallion left the Tailgunners facing off against The Knights. The Knights had home ice advantage, but fell prey to The Tailgunners 6-2. The next round was not as forgiving, as The Tailgunners lost to the WV Blizzard. 'Staff' The Tailgunners current Staff roster. 'Statistics' Regular Season Stats Still new to the The Metropolis Hockey Organization experience, The Tailgunners had an impact since Day 1. Their first jump into the spotlight occurred when they swept their season 1 Dominance trophy winner, The chips, 2-0 with both games requiring OT for a decision. Season 2 started off a little slow, but The Tailgunners quickly found their rhythm and played 10 days of near perfect hockey. The season appeared to be a walk, with the dominance appearing to be theirs and all major awards in lockdown if they could just continue to play the incredible game they had been playing. Then, things take a turn for the worst. Top line playmaker Ellis Larrison goes down with a shoulder injury and is out for 2 days. The Tailgunners go 0-8 in that stretch and their once strong grasp on the league slip through their fingers. Upon Larrison's return, play is mediocre at best. Trying to find thier stride again, they find themselves ending the second day of Larrison's return 3-1. All of a sudden , Larrison goes down with a wrist injury and is out for yet another 2 days. The Tailgunners were not the same team for the rest of the season and finish far out of personal award contention, a dismal 41-31 after a fantastic start, and are eliminated by the 7th seeded Nailers who upset the top 2 seeds to advance and win in the Metrocup finals Season 3 was much more consistent than the previous season, but performance was still shy of expectation. After the addition of a few UFA's to round out the lines, The Tailgunners are ready to embark on their third season. Although, strong play of late by 3rd line Sniper Pavel Minarik earns him the well deserved spot atop the first line with Two Way Superstar Cory Holzinger and emerging star Playmaker Ellis Larrison. Making way for Minarik was his childhood idol, veteran sniper Kip Goodin. Great personal advances were made this season and the team played much better as a unit than the previous two seasons. Although PK will be the main concern over the offseason, due to finishing with a league worst 77.9%, The Tailgunners showed their discipline as they took the fewest penalties in the league. Pavel Minarek, Ellis Larrison and Radek Kleffman made major advances in their personal game with Minarik and Larrison improving from an 84 rating to 89, and Kleffman from an 80 rating to 86. Goaltender James Mauffray made his advance to a 94 rating just in time for playoffs, but it still wasn't enough to defeat Kos' Golgafrinchans in the second round. Season 4 was a time of high expectations. After a good run in the UFA market, The Tailgunners set off with the Dominance Trophy etched into their minds. Although the season didn't unfold as previously hoped, personal performance plateaus were met by up and coming prospects. Top prospects Ellis Larrison and Pavel Minarik not only achieved their gold star status, but achieved point totals greater than 1 point per game. Ellis Larrison produced a career best 68 assists while Pavel Minarik reached the 50-goal mark for the first time in his short career. Captain Cory Holzinger brought up his play in the last 15 games of the season producing 25 points in the 15 game streak. Radek Kleffman set career totals in assists and points, 29 and 42 respectively, and Goalie James Mauffray obliterated a previous career best 3 shutouts with 8 this season. This is also the last season veteran sniper Kip Goodin played for The Tailgunners. Although he spent the season on the farm due to an unmanageable contract, his dedication and devotion to the team will not be forgotten. Next came the postseason. With a first round sweep of the 6th seeded Claws, and Captain Cory Holzinger playing as he did in his expansion season, The Tailgunners were looking a like a strong contender. The second round saw The Tailgunners matched up with the second seed Strange Brew. After taking the series 4-2 and holding their perfect home record (6-0) they were off to the Metrocup Finals to face the 5th seeded Ace Run after they upset Dominance trophy winner Sabres Win. After suffering their first loss of the postseason in game 1, The Tailgunners rebounded and took games 2 and 3. With the suspense mounting, the inactive Ace Run delayed their games until the reset, where The Tailgunners took games 4 and 5 to win their first Metrocup. Playoff Stats 'Medallion' Current Team Roster The table below shows the current roster of The Tailgunners. 'Franchise History' 'All-Time Scoring Leaders' These are the top-six point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed MetroHo regular season. Note: GP=Games Played, G=Goals, A=Assists, PTS=Points, P/G= Points per Game, *=currently not on The Tailgunners 'Team Captian' Captain *Cory Holzinger (S1-Present) Alternate Captain *Chris Cuthrell (S1-Present) *Jiri Arbo (S5-Present) *Jewell Burle (S1-S4) Hall of Famers The Tailgunners have not had any members of the MetroHO Hall of Fame associated with their organization. Retired Numbers The Tailgunners have yet to retire any of their own numbers. Team Arena *The Tailgunners have played at Jack Gatecliff Arena since March 11th, 2009. *Current picture of Jack Gatecliff Arena and arena specifications are as follows: image:Arena-level3.jpg Level: 3 Seating Capacity: 200 Beer Stands: 5/5 Food Stands: 5/5 Restaurants: 1/1 Merchandise Shops: 3/3 Arena Notes: *Jack Gatecliff Arena is now home of The Tailgunners, who share the arena with The Niagara IceDogs of the OHL. 'Trophys and Awards' 'Team' FM Radio Record: 2/2 Television Network Record: 2/2 'Player' Blitz Blades Record: 0/1 Ice Elixer Record:'' 2/2 (Ellis Larrison) '''Player Awards Phenom Trophy: Cory Holzinger (Sea. 1) Playoff MVP: Cory Holzinger (Sea. 4) Silver Sniper / (1st degree): Kip Goodin (Sea. 1) Silver Sniper / (2nd degree): Kip Goodin (Sea. 2) Silver Sniper / (2nd degree): Pavel Minarik (Sea. 3) Silver Sniper / (3rd degree): Pavel Minarik (Sea. 4) Silver Sniper / (1st degree): Pavel Minarik (Sea. 5) Platinum Playmaker / (3rd degree): Ellis Larrison (Sea. 1) Platinum Playmaker / (3rd degree): Ellis Larrison (Sea. 2) Platinum Playmaker / (2nd degree): Ellis Larrison (Sea. 3) Platinum Playmaker / (2nd degree): Ellis Larrison (Sea. 4) Platinum Playmaker / (1st degree): Ellis Larrison (Sea. 5) Fire Ring: Ellis Larrison (Sea. 5) Season MVP: Ellis Larrison (Sea. 5) Quarterback Jacket / (1st degree): Chris Cuthrell (Sea. 3) Quarterback Jacket / (1st degree): Chris Cuthrell (Sea. 5) Quarterback Jacket / (3rd degree): Radek Kleffman (Sea. 3) Quarterback Jacket / (2nd degree): Radek Kleffman (Sea. 4) Season MVP: Columbus Haver (Sea. 2) Brick Pads: Columbus Haver (Sea. 2) 'Trade History'